Frankly, Alexa speakers can be pretty overwhelming at first.
Where do you even begin?
What feature should you try first and what features truly matter?
Here are five of the most important tips for new Alexa users.
First, personalize your flash briefing.
Think of this as an update for all the things that you truly care about.
it'll give you the weather for your home address as well as updates from all the news and sources that you follow.
To change what sources play in your flash briefing and which order they play it, open the Alexa app on your phone, then go to 'Settings', then 'Flash Briefing'.
There you can toggle sources on or off, remove them, and find new ones that range from CNET, MPR, and top Reddit posts.
To Sports Channel, Word of the Day, and recipe tips from Food Network.
To play your flash briefing just say, Alexa, what's in the news?
Or, Alexa, play my Flash Briefing.
Here is what is in the news.
Your top story of the day, Apple.
Admits it slows older iPhones.
Earlier this year, Amazon added voice recognition to its multi-user support.
It's called a Voice Profile, and everybody gets one, and it allows Alexa to learn your voice and distinguish it from other people that may use your Alexa speakers.
You can add events to your calendar and your to-do and shopping list without interfering with other people's list and calendars.
It also means that you don't have to specify that it is you to play your preference of music or get event from your specific calendar Just set up a voice profile, open the Alexa app on your phone and go to Settings, then Accounts and then tap your voice.
Tap begin and select the nearest Alexa speaker and follow the onscreen prompts.
After [INAUDIBLE] ample time to learn your voice, you can say, Alexa, who am I?
And she will tell you who is speaking.
Taylor is speaking.
You're in Taylor's account.
One of the most helpful and often overlooked commands for Alexa is making her repeat herself.
If you didn't hear what she said, or you'd just like to hear it again for reference, you can say, Alexa, what did you just say?
The last answer will be repeated to you verbatim.
Out of the box, Alexa speakers can play music from several different sources.
Amazon prime music, Amazon music unlimited.
Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRADIO, Siriusxm, and tunein.
If you find yourself using one service over another pretty often, you can simply change the default music service.
To do this, open the [UNKNOWN] app and go to Settings, Music and Media, choose default music service.
Once you changed the default you will no longer have to specify where you want music to From.
If your preferred music service isn't officially supported by Alexa, you can still use your Alexa speaker to stream that music using Bluetooth.
To turn on Bluetooth and enable pairing say, Alexa pair.
Then in the Bluetooth settings from your phone, computer or tablet select the Alexa speaker to pair.
After they're paired the Alexa speaker will work just as any other Bluetooth speaker and to connect your phone manually to the Alexa.
The speaker say, Alexa connect.
From time to time you'll issue a command to Alexa and she'll say, sorry I don't know that one or she's not sure.
Sorry, I don't know that.
When this is the case, it's a perfect time to check out the skill section in the Alexa app.
Skills are to Alexa speakers as apps are to your phone.
They're third party software that enable your speaker to do much more than it can out of the box.
Skills range from games like jeopardy and 20 questions to travel apps like Kayak, support for smart home devices, and ambient sounds.
With over 20,000 skills available, the list of possibilities for Alexa continues to grow.
For more Alexa tips and tricks and other how-tos, be sure to check out CNet.com/howto.
